


Maybe Next Time

by Monaca



Category: Per qualche dollaro in più | For A Few Dollars More (1965)
Genre: Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Pining, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 14:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15642879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monaca/pseuds/Monaca
Summary: The duel had seemed a suitable ending. Either be killed or kill, and ride into the sunset. As meticulous and organized as Douglas Mortimer was, he had not planned much for the aftermath.





	Maybe Next Time

_Where life had no value_

_Death had its price_

_That is why the bounty killers appeared_

-For A Few Dollars More

 

The duel had seemed a suitable ending. Either be killed or kill, and ride into the sunset. As meticulous and organized as Douglas Mortimer was, he had not planned much for the aftermath. It took him an entire week to travel to the remote cemetery and while the path was clear he was lost in thoughts the entire time. On the way he stopped by in cheap hotels and cleaned his guns at candle light - one by one before replacing them in order, like he had done every night or so for the past six years. He thought of the flowers he was going to lay on the graves of loved ones, and the food he was going to order for lunch and dinner. He thought of the watch Indio had held all this time and decided to scrub it with a bit of alcohol, leaving his own untouched. He thought of the pain he felt in his jaw and ribs where he had been kicked by men now dead, and of the dust he needed to brush off his clothes and horse. For years revenge had been the only matter of the day – a source of energy that allowed the machine that he was to move and shoot precisely. Now he felt his skull again, opening like a dam to reveal a flood of pictures and sounds. Every minute detail of life was flowing through it and coming in a whirlwind above the sand he traveled on.

At its center was Manco, his friend with no name.

 

 ____________

 

 

Manco, meanwhile, did not think much at all. He was now a rich man: he could have been even richer had he chosen to keep the bank notes of El Paso instead of taking the reward, but felt he was not as bad as that, or at least rich enough to afford being good. He found out killing Indio had made him likeable to some, as news of his exploit had reached the town of Tucumcari and he was suddenly offered the post of sheriff.

 “Do I look like a sheriff?” He had said, smiling in disbelief. The old, weary man in charge of peace-keeping at the time had stared at him, scratching his head and shuffling his feet like he himself was confused about how he had gotten the job in the first place.

“You look like someone who shoots the right people in the right way, which is more than we can say of most men here.”

Manco’s smile had turn into a smirk at this, but hesitation had crept in. Tucumcari’s life was filled with gunfights and crooks drunkenly fighting each other outside saloons and brothels, but it was a place as good as any for a single man with a gun and no love for big cities. He could stay for a while and enjoy luxuries such as a mattress and a hot bath every night. Provide the people of this town clean, safe streets. He could stay even longer – Tucumcari was growing in business and population and perhaps buying a house there would not be so bad with fewer bandits. He had not set his mind on a place yet and had no relations or friends to join. On this last thought, Manco had wondered if he could one day meet the colonel again. He remembered the promise that Douglas Mortimer had made before leaving:   
_“Perhaps I’ll drop around to see that little spread upcountry someday.”_  
Tucumcari was not the grassy land he had dreamed of, but it certainly was easier to find. And it was on this thought that Manco, formerly a lone and feared bounty hunter, became the somewhat respectable and still very much feared sheriff of Tucumcari.

 

 

____________

 

 

_Mortimer felt Manco’s gaze even with his back turned to the window. After a rough start -which clearly was the young man’s fault- Mortimer had offered to share a good whisky and discuss business. Their two mistreated hats were lying on top of one another on the table like a peace offering. Manco’s impossibly long legs were propped up just near them and he was the perfect picture of insolence._

_“Tell me, Colonel... Were you ever young?” Manco asked, his eyes narrowed with both suspicion and curiosity._

_“Yup,” Mortimer replied, his trusty pipe between his teeth, his gold pocket watch in his right hand. “And just as reckless as you. Then one day, something happened. Something that made life very precious to me.”_

_“And what's that?” And it was unclear whether Manco was talking about the watch or what the colonel had said. “Or is the question indiscreet?”._

_“No. The question isn't indiscreet. But the answer could be.”  
It was the first time that Manco was witness to his gentle smile, his eyes full of a deep contained sadness. He did not dare ask any more question, and yet remained all night trapped in thoughts, fascinated by the man.  _

 

____________

 

 

His sister’s grave had not been kept, and Mortimer was ashamed of it. He cleaned the stone as well as he could and put on top of it a crown of wildflowers he had made himself, as he used to do when she was little and wanted to play queen. The soft tune of his watch played and the notes that were once threatening found their home again in her resting place.   
Mortimer wept in silence.

 

____________

 

 

They were alone, and it was their third night in Agua Caliente, the sky bright with stars unbothered by city lights, all of them nearly as shiny as the money hidden below. Indio and his men were sleeping or playing cards in a large room two houses away, which Manco had left under the pretext he had frequent insomnia and would only wake the others with his moving about. The space he shared with the colonel was cramped and filled with straw stacks but the cooling air and the knowledge he was away from deadly bandits made it bearable. With a grunt, Manco sat on the floor with his back against the wall and started carving a small piece of wood with his knife. All they needed was to pass some time.

 

____________

 

 

In Tucumcari the heat had settled into a nice, cozy warmth where the birds and bugs sang their songs in the early morning. Manco felt cool and well rested, lying in a bed of his own. His hand travelled slowly upon the cotton sheet and he started humming an old tune. How far Agua Caliente seemed from here, in time and space – yet when he breathed he could still smell the straw stacks, and his mind wandered again.

 

 

____________

 

 

It was the middle of the night, and Manco was still carving. He had learnt how to carve a man out of wood when he was eighteen and bored – a friend who kept him company while he was keeping his father’s shop had shown him one day, demonstrating the process with such flourish it became to Manco’s eyes a secret art. The knife had slipped the first time Manco tried, cutting his right hand badly and leaving a scar and a distant stinging sensation that had never left him whenever he drew his gun. His friend had stared at the gash with a horrified look, and Manco’s heart had twisted with joy at seeing him so worried.   
Remembering this, Manco abruptly stopped carving the piece, and decided to drink the bottle of wine someone at the barn had long been hiding under some logs, presumably in case they too, had to forget unfitting thoughts.

 

____________

 

 

 

Mortimer had found some large rocks to settle between for the night, and the sky was roof enough for him. Lying on his back with his arms as a cushion he stared at the moon for a while, nearly full and shining bright on the land. His horse was asleep besides him and its slow steady breath was starting to lull him into sleep. Old conversations came back to him in waves and carried him to Manco again.   
_Do you mind telling me how you got here?_

_I just reasoned it out. I figured you'd tell Indio to do just exactly the opposite of what we agreed - and he's suspicious enough to figure out something else. Since El Paso was out of the question, well, here I am._

Mortimer smiled to himself. Maybe, he thought, he should reason it out again, and find an old friend. He closed his eyes and dreamt of Agua Caliente some more.

 

____________

 

Douglas Mortimer was also sitting on the floor with his back against the opposite wall, legs crossed at the ankle, one hand on his gun and the other across his belly. He had managed to fall asleep despite the danger and the heat after a shot of tequila and a less than perfect meal, when he felt a hand on his shoulder shaking him awake. He startled and gripped his gun before stilling. It was not Indio or his men, but his own reckless partner, inches away from him and seemingly ignorant of the fact that Douglas could have shot him by mistake.   
“Don’t move, colonel.” Manco whispered.

Mortimer could smell all of him at this distance – sweat and straw and too much wine. He could not even focus on a part of Manco, stare at his eyes or lips or skin. In this instant he could only understand a blur of information: a drop traveling down a neck, warmth, the sudden beat of his heart, darkness, wool of an old poncho brushing against his hand, the cold wall, the quiet sound of breathing from both of them. Hardly anyone friendly had gotten so close before.

“There’s a snake above you, old man.” Manco continued, staring at a point above Mortimer’s head. He swallowed, still frozen by the man’s command.

“Then remove it.” he replied in a similar whisper, a bit braver than he felt at the moment. It made the other smile.

“Alright.” Manco raised the knife he had used to cut the piece of wood with his left hand, and stabbed once, with enough force to stick both snake and blade to the wall. Mortimer felt wriggling, then a weight on his hat as the animal stopped.   
“Not bad for a drunk boy,” he joked, before realizing Manco’s hand was still on the handle and his arm and body still caging him. Mortimer made a move to stand.

“Don’t move.” Manco repeated, stilling him with his right hand, palm pressed to the heart. Only a thin linen shirt separated their skins.

Mortimer ignored this and raised a brow.   
“Is there another snake?”

Manco smiled again. “Depends.” He said. Mortimer frowned and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, any sound at all, the other leaned in for a kiss. Their lips met, and he tasted wine – then Manco drew back, leaned again, this time to put his head on Mortimer’s shoulder, and sighed, left and right hands and body still softly trapping him against the wall.

It took five long seconds for Mortimer to wake up from his stupor, then another ten to realize Manco had fallen into a drunken sleep. Everything seemed frozen in time and place, and in this strange euphoric bubble the colonel briefly wondered if he had ever felt such a weight on his shoulder, and if he should experience for the first time the sleep of those who never sleep alone. It was when Manco’s left hand suddenly slipped from the knife handle and met the ground in an awkward angle that embarrassment and shame rushed through him. He shuddered. And then, in the middle of the night, as gently and quietly as he could, he laid Manco on the ground, took the knife out of the wall, placed it on the table, picked up the dead snake, and went outside for a long walk.

  
The next morning Manco seemed to remember neither the snake nor the kiss, and went back at night to where Indio and his men slept, two days before they both got caught and kicked around, and a day before he saved the colonel’s life by revealing he had stolen his watch, during a drunken night.

**Author's Note:**

> My second piece of writing that I have been hiding in my drawers for more than a year. My English is still wobbly and I still write a word a month, but I love this ship too much to abandon it! Comments are more than welcome, hope you enjoy it.


End file.
